Tele’Drama International and the Hudson Valley Psychodrama Institute (HVPA) present, in collaboration,Sociodrama and Story with Children’s Groups: Enacting Fairytales and Folktales
3.5-Hour Session

An Experiential Workshop for Counseling and Educational Settings

Fairytales, folktales, and legends have historically played an important role in children’s development, offering symbolic narratives that address universal human experiences such as fear, courage, loss, conflict, and transformation. When used intentionally, these stories become powerful tools for supporting children’s emotional regulation, social development, and resilience.This experiential training explores the use of fairytales and stories through storytelling and sociodramatic, action-based methods in counseling and educational settings. Participants will learn how to use storytelling and story enactment to engage children, address emotional and behavioral challenges, and promote social connection and imaginative play.The training integrates theory, demonstration, and hands-on practice to ensure participants leave with practical skills that can be immediately applied in their work with children.

Why Sociodramatic Story Enactment?
Sociodramatic enactment of traditional stories provides a structured and psychologically safe way for children to explore difficult emotions and life situations through symbolic action and play. By enacting stories rather than simply hearing them, children gain emotional distance while actively engaging with themes relevant to their own experiences.This approach is particularly effective in group counseling, classrooms, and therapeutic settings where children present with varied emotional and behavioral needs. Sociodramatic enactments of stories provide children with opportunities to:

• Develop problem-solving skills and emotional resilience
• Build empathy and perspective-taking
• Strengthen group cohesion and social skills
• Engage in creative and imaginative play

Learning Outcomes
Participants will learn how to:

• Select developmentally appropriate stories that match the needs and goals of a group
• Develop effective storytelling skills that engage and contain children emotionally
• Apply sociodramatic techniques to facilitate story enactments
• Use storytelling to support emotional regulation through psychological distance
• Engage disinterested children, manage disruptive behavior, and support quiet or withdrawn children within enactments
• Foster empathy, problem-solving, resilience, and group cohesion through story-based action
• Differentiate between the therapeutic use of traditional stories and modern narratives

Presenter
Rebecca Walters, MS, LMHC, LCAT, TEP
Rebecca Walters is the Director and co-founder of the Hudson Valley Psychodrama Institute in New York. With over 40 years’ experience, she previously led psychodrama services at Four Winds Psychiatric Hospital with children, adolescents, and adults and supervised its internship program.A well-respected international trainer in Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy, Rebecca has delivered workshops on Psychodrama and Sociodrama with Children globally for more than two decades. She is a Fellow of the American Society for Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama and received the 2018 J. L. Moreno Award for lifetime achievement.


Continuing Education & Certification Information
This professional workshop offers 3.5 training hours that may be applied toward certification through the American Board of Examiners in Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy.These hours may also be submitted to various licensing boards for continuing education consideration, subject to each board’s approval process. Many licensing boards are increasingly accepting independently attended professional trainings when participants submit the workshop title, description, and learning objectives, all of which will be provided.

Continuing Education may be applicable for:

• NBCC (National Board for Certified Counselors)
• New York State Social Workers

Participants are responsible for confirming acceptance with their specific licensing or credentialing body.

Please Note
This workshop is fully experiential.

• Confidentiality and safety are required.
• All participants must attend with video on and be fully present for the entire process.
• This module is unique to those who attend and will not be recorded.
• The best way to participate is via a computer.
• In the event of cancellation, payment will be credited toward a future Tele’Drama workshop.
• You will receive the Zoom invitation prior to the session at the email address used for registration and payment. This is the only email address on file.